Diwan-i-Am

A logical place to begin a tour of the palace complex is the Diwan-i-Am, where important festivals were held, and where citizens could exercise their right to petition the emperor. Unlike the ornate pillared Diwan-i-Am buildings at the forts in Agra and Delhi, it is basically just a large courtyard, surrounded by a continuous colonnaded walkway with Hindu-style square columns and capitals, and broken only by the small pavilion, flanked by elaborately carved jali screens, in which the emperor himself would have sat – the position of the royal platform forced the emperor’s subjects to approach him from the side in an attitude of humility.